Windies test squad to tour NZ - Brendan Nash is in...

The squad (notable in bold):

Chris Gayle (Captain), Ramnaresh Sarwan (Vice Captain), Lionel Baker, Carlton Baugh, Sulieman Benn, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Sewnarine Chattergoon, Fidel Edwards, Leon Johnson, Xavier Marshall, Brendan Nash, Daren Powell, Denesh Ramdin, Kemar Roach, Jerome Taylor.

So Brendan Nash gets his first opportunity to play test cricket for the West Indies. It has been ridiculously easy for him to make it, but I guess thats how crap our batting is at the moment.

I like the selection of Baugh to battle it out with Ramdin for the keepers spot as I think it will bring out the best in both of them.

Leon Johnson is a promising young batsman but he has been selected after one good season and two good matches against Canada, and that doesn't rest well with me tbh.

Kemar Roach and Lionel Baker are two fast and raw talents who have impressed coaches in the nets and in club cricket without ever performing heroics at FC level, so it is a bit of a gamble selecting both of them.

Dwayne Bravo is recovering from an operation and that is why he hasn't been selected.

There must be SOME good performers at first class level for the Windies. They always seem to pick players by hunch rather than any evidence that they will do well.

WI will THRASH bondless NZ.

Henry wrote:There must be SOME good performers at first class level for the Windies. They always seem to pick players by hunch rather than any evidence that they will do well.

Leon Johnson averaged nearly 50 last year so that was a good effort. Ryan Hinds dominates FC cricket in the Caribbean but always gets injured as soon as he is selected. Nash averaged 50 with a century in the final so there are some good performances yes, but West Indians are not so big on stats and tend to rate players with their own eyes, so people that look the part get selected over those that should have been selected.

For example, Amit Jaggernauth has been discarded already even though he has completely dominated our FC competition for 3 years. Suliemann Benn looks the part and can slog a few and so he gets selected instead.

Obviously I hope we do thrash NZ PP as we have a more incisive better pace attack, but we are terrible against left arm spinners and always struggle to remove lower order batsman so I fear Vettori will have a field day.

Selecting Nash is a worry. This guy was rubbish in Australian first class cricket. Who was the last white player to play for the Windies? Wifan, do you sense any sort of resentment in the Caribbean at Nash's selection?

WIFAN wrote:

Henry wrote:There must be SOME good performers at first class level for the Windies. They always seem to pick players by hunch rather than any evidence that they will do well.

Leon Johnson averaged nearly 50 last year so that was a good effort. Ryan Hinds dominates FC cricket in the Caribbean but always gets injured as soon as he is selected. Nash averaged 50 with a century in the final so there are some good performances yes, but West Indians are not so big on stats and tend to rate players with their own eyes, so people that look the part get selected over those that should have been selected.

For example, Amit Jaggernauth has been discarded already even though he has completely dominated our FC competition for 3 years. Suliemann Benn looks the part and can slog a few and so he gets selected instead.

Obviously I hope we do thrash NZ PP as we have a more incisive better pace attack, but we are terrible against left arm spinners and always struggle to remove lower order batsman so I fear Vettori will have a field day.

I remember on the last tour WI had the test match ALMOST in the bag but Bond BLEW WI away....IIRC he got Lara for a golden duck.

Henry wrote:Selecting Nash is a worry. This guy was rubbish in Australian first class cricket. Who was the last white player to play for the Windies? Wifan, do you sense any sort of resentment in the Caribbean at Nash's selection?

Not sure who the last 'white' player to play for us was, maybe Jackie Hendricks?

There are some of the older people in the West Indies who are slow to get over past misdemeanors (I am trying to put this as diplomatically as possible) and will be against his selection in the same way they will support anyone who plays against England.

Mostly people are giving him the benefit of the doubt though as he did the business in our competition and has committed himself fully to Jamaica so you can't ask for more than that.

PlanetPakistan wrote:

WIFAN wrote:

Henry wrote:There must be SOME good performers at first class level for the Windies. They always seem to pick players by hunch rather than any evidence that they will do well.

Leon Johnson averaged nearly 50 last year so that was a good effort. Ryan Hinds dominates FC cricket in the Caribbean but always gets injured as soon as he is selected. Nash averaged 50 with a century in the final so there are some good performances yes, but West Indians are not so big on stats and tend to rate players with their own eyes, so people that look the part get selected over those that should have been selected.

For example, Amit Jaggernauth has been discarded already even though he has completely dominated our FC competition for 3 years. Suliemann Benn looks the part and can slog a few and so he gets selected instead.

Obviously I hope we do thrash NZ PP as we have a more incisive better pace attack, but we are terrible against left arm spinners and always struggle to remove lower order batsman so I fear Vettori will have a field day.

I remember on the last tour WI had the test match ALMOST in the bag but Bond BLEW WI away....IIRC he got Lara for a golden duck.

Yes that match is infamous amongst West Indians as we were strolling to the target when Gayle hit Vettori out of the ground and they had to fetch a new ball. They didn't have any balls that were the right age so Daryl Harper started bouncing a newish one on the concrete surrounding the pitch. After that, the ball started reverse swinging a fair distance and Bond suddenly looked menacing having been dealt with comfortably by Gayle and Ganga for the whole innings previously.

WIFAN wrote:

Henry wrote:Selecting Nash is a worry. This guy was rubbish in Australian first class cricket. Who was the last white player to play for the Windies? Wifan, do you sense any sort of resentment in the Caribbean at Nash's selection?

Not sure who the last 'white' player to play for us was, maybe Jackie Hendricks?

.

Geoff Greenidge

Henry wrote:...... Who was the last white player to play for the Windies? ..........

A surname I would associate with a famous black player.

G.Wood wrote:

WIFAN wrote:

Henry wrote:Selecting Nash is a worry. This guy was rubbish in Australian first class cricket. Who was the last white player to play for the Windies? Wifan, do you sense any sort of resentment in the Caribbean at Nash's selection?

Not sure who the last 'white' player to play for us was, maybe Jackie Hendricks?

.

Geoff Greenidge

Good shout.

I still remember Alan McGilvray (he of the elephantine cricket knowledge and microscopic sense of humor) referring to the 'Greenidge brothers' when they opened the batting for Barbados against the touring Australians in 1973, most likely relying on information helpfully given by Tony Cozier.

I always thought Nash was only a little bit lighter skin than Symonds?

more on Geoff Greenidge

"Geoff Greenidge exploded onto the scene when he smashed 205 on his debut as an opener for Barbados against the Leeward Islands in 1966-67, and grabbed 7 for 124 with his legspin in the Leeward's first innings for good measure"

It looks like it was all a long way down hill from there


He only took another 6 wickets in his career ffs

The opposition may be relevant. The Leeward and Windward Islands temas were very weak back then ... the Shillingfords and (IIRC) TM Findlay were the most notable early reps. That all changed when IVA Richards came along.

ever the internationalist

Fred Nerk wrote:I still remember Alan McGilvray (he of the elephantine cricket knowledge and microscopic sense of humor) referring to the 'Greenidge brothers' when they opened the batting for Barbados against the touring Australians in 1973, most likely relying on information helpfully given by Tony Cozier.

I always thought Nash was only a little bit lighter skin than Symonds?

Aye - I thought Nash was of African descent too.

Just checked Nash's Cricinfo file - his mug-shot is def white.

He qualified as a Jamaican national through his father, a former Olympic swimmer for Jamaica. Swimming is still pretty lilywhite now, let alone back when old man Nash was competing, so it's quite likely he was white as well.

Excellent pace attack. Without Bond NZ look pretty feeble. They didn't look to great against BD either.

This could be another great series for Sarwan/Chanderpaul.